Native
Indian Art and Crafts
A comprehensive
and illustrated guide to Native Indian Art
and crafts of the Native American indigenous people of North America. All of our
articles are accompanied by pictures, paintings
and many have videos - all bringing Native Indian Art to life and enabling a
better understanding of each subject. All of the
sections of this website have examples of art in paintings,
portraits and pictures of Native American
Indians which provide illustrations of
Native American art in the form of symbols and the design of
their clothing and the decorations and jewelry
that accompanied them - the picture above shows
a necklace made from the claws of bears and the
War Paint designs.

Native Indian Art
- Patterns and Designs
Pictured above is an example of a Native
American pattern and the picture to right shows
the art & craft work in making Native Indian beadwork
tobacco pouches with different symbols, patterns and
designs.

Native
Indian Art and Crafts
The articles on Native Indian Art include
the symbols, patterns and designs found on various material objects
and items, examples of arts and crafts,
jewelry, wood (including Totem Poles) art, pottery
art,
ceramic art, art and designs,
art and patterns, art related artefacts,
kachina dolls, baskets and beadwork art. Click
the following link for all forms of
Native American Symbols and Picture Writing

Native
Indian Art -
Kachina Dolls
Kachina dolls are carved, painted, costumed
dolls made by Southwest Native Americans,
particularly associated with the Hopi tribe.
Kachina dolls are dressed in the costume of
a particular Hopi spirit and the dolls are
usually presented to a child as a gift.

Native
Indian Art - Beadwork
Beadwork, using glass beads, has been in use
for almost five centuries in the North
America. The glass beads were imported from
Europe and Asia. Often the artwork created
using beads included lines of beads which
were stitched to emphasize the imagery.
Iroquois tribe are well known for "embossed"
beading in which strings pulled taunt force
beads to pop up from the surface, which
create a bas-relief.

Native
Indian Art - Wampum
The most famous Native Indian beads incorporating
intricate beadwork is wampum, a cylindrical
tube of quahog or whelk shell. Both shells
produce white beads, but only parts of the
quahog produce purple beads. The most famous
Native bead is wampum, a cylindrical tube of
quahog or whelk shell which produce white
and purple beads. Wampum are traditional,
sacred shell beads of Eastern Woodlands
tribes used for currency, recording special
events and marking exchanges for engagement,
marriage, and betrothal agreements.

Native
Indian
Art
- Pictograms and Picture Drawings
Many of the Native American Indian tribes did not use an
alphabet but they conveyed their ideas in basic
pictures of visible objects which they
engraved as art work upon smooth stones, the bark of
trees, and drew on the skins of animals
which the Native American Indian made into their clothes and
tepees.

Native Indian Art - Men and Women
The artistic activity of Native American
Indian artists was usually divided into two,
separate, gender-related tasks. The
geometric, decorative designs found in most
forms of craft work were created by women
whereas life forms and records of events
were created by men.

Native Indian Art - Dighton Rock
Inscription
The famous Dighton Rock Inscription conveys
a record of an ancient battle between two
Indian tribes which are carved in symbols on
a large 40 ton stone which was found in in
the riverbed of the Taunton River at
Berkley, Massachusetts. Dighton rock is
noted for its petroglyphs which are ancient
carved designs and symbols.

Native Indian Art - Petroglyphs
Petroglyphs are a form of Rock Art.
Petroglyphs are drawings or carvings often
found on the surface of rocks or caves which
were created by past civilisations of Native
American Indians.
Petroglyphs consist of a design, motif,
pattern or symbols engraved on stone.
Petroglyphs are created by removing part of
a rock surface by incising, picking,
carving, and abrading.

Native Indian Art - Pictographs
Rock Art -
Petroglyphs should not be confused with
pictographs, which are images drawn or
painted on a rock face. The term
'pictograph' is derived from the Latin word
'pictus', past participle of 'pingere',
meaning to paint. Pictographs consist of
pictures, or picture-like symbols and art
work, that tell
a story or represent an idea or used to
express an artistic or religious meaning.

Native Indian Art - Rock Hieroglyphics
Rock Art -
Hieroglyphics are an ancient system of
writing which uses pictures or pictorial
symbols to convey concepts and ideas. The
word Hieroglyphic is of Greek origin,
meaning holy carvings or "sacred carved
sign." The term 'Rock Hieroglyphics' are
sometimes used in reference to rock carvings
and symbols including the
Dighton Rock inscription believed to have
been carved in Native American symbols.

Native Indian Art - Picture Writing
Picture Writing is a broad term that covers
any writing system and art work that uses pictographs and
symbols.
Picture writing is a a system of artistic
communication and artistic expression using
pictures or symbolic figures which was used
by the Native American Indians.

Native Indian Art - Ledger Book
Drawings
Ledger Book drawings were the result of
paper being introduced to the Native
American Indians by the Europeans.
Traditionally, picture drawings, paintings
and art symbols were crafted on the hides of
animals, on tepees and clothing. When Native
Americans were sent to reservations or
incarcerated in the late 1800's they were
provided with paper and pencils and
encouraged to draw and many were fine
artists. Ledger books, originally
used by Trading Companies to keep their
accounts, were given to Native Indians
artists who
produced Ledger Book drawings which
illustrated examples of Native Indian art.

Cheyenne Ledger Book Drawing

Native Indian Art - Tree Pictures
American
Indian Symbols were carved into trees by Native
American Indians in the form
of tree picture art. Trees were permanent
natural structures and an ideal 'canvas' for
Native Indian artists and shamans who wanted
to record events that were important to
their history and could be seen via this
unique art form by later
generations.

American
Indian Art - Jewelry
The Native Indians of North America created
jewelry and adornments from a variety of
animal teeth, animal claws, shells, bones,
hide, vegetal fibres, woods, precious and
semi-precious gemstones. Many were adept at
beadwork and quillwork to create jewellery.
Beads were made from turquoise, coral, and
shell. Different types of Native American
jewelry included chokers, armbands,
breastplates, pins, earrings, and necklaces.
Metal jewelry came to the indigenous
population of North America via European and
Mexican metal smiths. Copper, initially
traded from tribes near the Coppermine
River, which runs in regions of the
Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada,
was worked into jewelry before European
contact. The Europeans then introduced the
art of the silver smith and gold smith to
Northeast America in the mid-17th century.

American
Indian Art - Turquoise Jewelry
Turquoise is the most famous semi-precious
stones used in creating Southwestern Native
Indian jewelry and art.

Native
Indian Art and Crafts
The art and craft related articles include the
skills acquired together with pictures and
photographs of baskets and art work, pottery
and art work and
beadwork art.

American
Indian Art - Designs
Native American Indian designs provide pictures and
images of the art and designs used in creating
various items by skilled Native Indians.

Native Indian
Art

American Indian
Art for kids

The Art of
American Indians

Images and
Pictures of the Art of American Indians and artists

Interesting
Art Facts and information about for kids and schools about art

Art, Jewelry,
Pottery and Baskets

Art, Designs
Patterns and Beadwork

Native
American Indian
Art for kids with pictures and Videos

Native
Indian Art and Native American Artists
Early Native Indian artists created stone
and wood sculptures and mural painting. Over
800 years ago Pueblo artists painted with
tempera on woven cotton fabric. Texcocan
artist Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl
(1580 - 1648) painted with ink and
watercolor on paper in the late 16th
century. Traditional Native Indian painting was
usually flat, highly colorful, and
two-dimensional.

Native
Indian Art - Men and Women Artists
The artistic activity of Native Indian
artists was generally divided into two,
separate, gender-related categories. The
geometric, decorative designs found in most
forms of craft work were created by women
whereas life forms and records of events
were created by men. Paintings on tepees
often depicted the earthly world and the
spiritual world with paintings of animals
and celestial symbols.